Damaged and the Outlaw (Damaged #4)

Once in the shower, I let myself cry a little. Vaughn deserved to live a long and happy life with everything he desired. I even considered killing the Devils myself. I wasn’t great at many things, but I could kill to protect the ones I loved and I did love Vaughn. I’d probably die in the process. Killing enough of those fuckers and protecting Vaughn would make my sacrifice worth it.

As I dried off and dressed, my mind wondered how to get the names and locations of the guys in charge of the Devils. I bet Tawny would help me get weapons. Or Bailey would or I could just buy the damn things. Then, I’d drive to Tucson and find the ones who put a bounty on Vaughn’s beautiful head. If I was careful, I could kill more than one target before they killed me. As a hot chick, those guys wouldn’t view me as a threat. I could get close enough…

In the dark living room, Vaughn sat with his arms crossed and legs propped up on the table.

“What the hell?” I cried, taking a moment to identify the big guy in the corner.

“I said we need to talk.”

“You’re nuts,” I mumbled, soothing my beating heart. Mostly, I didn’t know how to keep enough distance between us to avoid me giving him anything he wanted.

“Probably,” Vaughn said, standing up and walking towards me in a casual manner, “but love can make a man do crazy things.”

“What do you want to talk about?” I asked, moving to the kitchen as he followed.

“Not here.”

“What?” I muttered, turning to find him right behind me.

Before I could speak, Vaughn had me around the waist while pressing a cloth against my mouth. I struggled against his hard body. It was like wrestling with a brick wall. He never faltered and I passed out thinking it had been stupid to turn my back on a pissed guy.





Chapter Twenty - Vaughn


If abducting the woman I loved was wrong, I didn’t want to be right. Maybe a different guy would find a better way to make Raven listen. I wasn’t a different guy and I didn’t know how to do soft when imagining my woman fucking another guy. Hell, chloroform was as soft as I got when jealousy tore me up.

Once Raven was wrapped in a blanket, I carried her down to my truck. I ran into Kirk and Jodi who were taking a walk. They eyed me then Raven’s face peeking out from the blanket. Jodi checked her while Kirk frowned hard at me.

“We’re just going to talk at the cabin,” I said when he fiddled with the gun on his hip.

“If she doesn’t come back in one piece, it won’t be the Devils who put a bullet between your eyes, Outlaw.”

“Understood.”

Jodi swiped hair from Raven’s eyes then sighed. “Kids today make everything so damn complicated.”

Kirk rested an arm around his wife and they started walking again. “People are just dumber these days, babe.”

As they disappeared into the woods, I carried Raven the rest of the way to the truck. Soon, I had her propped up against me while I drove away from the Johansson place and towards my cabin.

The drive took nearly an hour because the path from the main highway to my home wasn’t paved. Rough and dangerous in the dark, it required finesse to keep from hitting passing animals or fallen trees. I hadn’t been to the cabin in weeks and anything might await me. Nonetheless, this was where my gut demanded I take Raven to make her listen.

The bumpy ride nearly woke her a few times and she stirred again when I carried her inside the cabin. Resting Raven on the couch, I turned on a few lights and checked for damage from the weather or animals. I found everything in working order then returned to the main room.

Along a wall was a small fridge, stove, and sink. A few cabinets on the wall and not much else, my kitchen was simple. The cabin was comfortable, yet sparse. I went out there to pretend the world wasn’t waiting outside the woods to eat me alive.

With Raven, I wanted to pretend we were safe from our pasts and only a happy future together awaited us. I needed to lie and I needed Raven to lie too. As soon as she woke up, I’d know if she was willing to lie for me.

Based on her reaction upon waking, the answer was no.

“You crazy fuck!” she screamed, wobbling away from me and throwing a box of tissues in my direction.

“You look nice for your date,” I said, staying very still so she wouldn’t panic and hurt herself. “I want you to only look nice for me. I don’t think that’s crazy.”

“You’re deranged. You kidnapped me.”

“Abducted sounds better. You’re not a kid.”

“Fuck you!” she screamed, holding onto a table. Seeing the lamp, she yanked it free from the wall and held it like a weapon. “Take me home!”

“We need to talk, Raven.”

“About your crazy damn brain? No thanks.”

“I’m not going to hurt you. Put the lamp down.”

We both knew telling her to do something meant she was less likely to do it. In fact, she lifted the lamp higher and eyed me as if evalutating the best place to nail me with it.

“I heard you crying in the shower,” I said, sitting down in a chair and watching her.

“I was crying because I’m horny. Nothing more than that. If you had backed off, I could have gotten laid and no more tears.”